McCALL | WE SHOWED GREAT CHARACTER

Bantams boss Stuart McCall was thrilled with the desire and determination on show from his players on New Year's Day, as City came from behind to claim a battling victory at Fleetwood Town.

In wet and windy conditions, City fought back from a goal down at the break to claim a 2-1 success at Highbury Stadium on their opening game of 2018 thanks to second half goals from Alex Gilliead and Shay McCartan.

The Bantams' win over Fleetwood was all the more impressive considering the fact that City used nine of the eleven starters from the Oxford United home victory just two days earlier.

McCall said: "A lot of the lads have played a lot of football recently.

"We've not been able to freshen things up too much because of illness and injury.

"We were asking a lot of the starters from Saturday (vs Oxford United) to go again.

"We didn't start the game well. Fleetwood played the conditions better and they deserved their lead.

"Having said that, we were playing into the rain and a strong wind, and we showed in spells what we could possibly do.

"When you play a counter-attacking side like Fleetwood, it is difficult when you concede the first goal. We are pleased with the second half clean sheet then.

"We knew we had the quality in attacking areas to get back into the match, so we told our defensive players to make sure we were vigilant at the back and don't get hit on the break.

"There was some great performances from the lads and great character shown.

"Macca (Tony McMahon) was only really back to eating normally yesterday (Sunday) evening after illness, while Timothee Dieng has done brilliantly to play two games in just three days.

"We thought we might only get an hour from him after being out for so long previously through injury.

"I'm pleased for Shay (McCartan) as well.

"There is also a lot of this group who have played in all four of our matches over this festive period.

"They have got their rewards for a real collective effort, especially in that second half.

"Bouncing back from back-to-back defeats to claim these two victories in three days, plus the fact that we've come from behind at the break away from home in tricky conditions, that showns the character we have in this group.

"How we managed the game, certainly after we took the lead, was very important.

"They have some talented attacking players but we've limited them to very little."